Point Reyes Station couple gears up to reopen Mostly Natives Nursery

Teresa Mathew
Amber Hoadley, a former gardener, and her partner Drew Miller—pictured here with their dog Lupi—purchased Mostly Natives Nursery this month and will reopen on Nov. 1.

By

Teresa Mathew

10/10/2018

A gardener raised at Green Gulch Farm and her entrepreneurial partner have purchased Mostly Natives Nursery, the Point Reyes Station establishment that relocated from Tomales the last time it changed hands, less than two years ago. Amber Hoadley and Drew Miller, who live near the business’s sleepy B Street location, purchased the nursery in early October and have closed the doors until Nov. 1. The previous owner, Darlene Johnson, an East Bay resident and a mother of three, decided to sell due to the hardship of the commute. She was intent on selling to a local to preserve the nursery’s community ties, and hoped to sell to a pair rather than a sole owner. Ms. Hoadley and Mr. Miller were the right match. Now, the pair says they plan to expand the nursery’s offerings. A former gardener, Ms. Hoadley hopes to broaden the spectrum of vegetable and fruit plants, roses and shrubs, pollinating plants and medicinal herbs. She also wants to “get back into working with local gardeners and contractors—growing, supplying or ordering for them, which had just kind of dropped off.” She said doing so was a key part of serving the West Marin community. “Those are the people that are really doing a lot of planting,” she said. “We are happy to be local people, and like all the opportunities we all get to support each other.” Ms. Hoadley grew up on Green Gulch Farm in Muir Beach, where she played and worked in the soil as a child. She later worked as a gardener in Mill Valley for over two decades. She has lived in Point Reyes Station for the last 10 years, eight of which have been spent with Mr. Miller, who formerly owned a series of small businesses, including an airport shuttle service. Ms. Hoadley was a frequent customer of Mostly Natives under the ownership of founders Margaret Graham and Walter Earle, and said even then she was interested in purchasing it. With the physical work of gardening and commuting to Mill Valley starting to wear on her, she and Mr. Miller decided it was time to try their luck when she found out that Mostly Natives was up for sale once more. “We’ve always liked this spot,” she said. “We would walk around and Mr. Miller had always daydreamed about opening a café there.” Indeed, the pair is interested in making the nursery into a community gathering space down the line—and, perhaps, serving coffee alongside the plants.